The Geared Immortal

Chapter 1

The cold night breeze embraces the people of City H, as the snow slowly covers the ground painting the whole city in white. In this modern city where people and cars are bustling about, a young man, tall in structure coupled with a handsome face stood unmoving as if in a trance, his face has a look of shock and disbelief while holding his phone near him. His gaze suddenly became unfocused while facing the wide window sill outside overlooking the city.

The office where he is in right now is surrounded by modern types of machinery and laboratory equipment. Looking out the window his gaze suddenly turns cold with melancholy slowly displaying in his face.

Then tears gradually slid down his cheeks though he tried his best to keep himself from crying but was still unable to.

"Hello! Are you still there? Shin, are... are you okay? I mean… I'm… I'm really sorry… I..." a sweet voice coming from the other end of the line said with a hint of sadness in her tone.

Though he heard her voice the young man didn't move even after a couple of minutes have passed until the call was dropped.

Tuut... tuut...

He looked dazedly trying to understand what had happened as he still couldn't accept everything she just said. Within his mind, he is recalling their conversation and her words echoing in his head over and over.

"Shin, I didn't really mean this to happen but, I… I fell in love with someone else. He gave a lot of attention which I truly seek that you cannot give... and he... he can offer me the future that I d.e.s.i.r.e. I'm... I'm so sorry…"

After hearing those lines, his mind went blank. His world began to crumble into pieces as pictures of memories with her started to break down into tiny pieces. Happy memories that they shared, the laughter, the love, their first meeting and the first night they were together.

He could not think of anything that he could have done which made her sad. He is always a man of his words and only keeps one woman in his heart. But, the thing that hurts him the most is that he plans to propose to her after the project is over and wanted to surprise her of the house he bought for the both of them. But now everything is over just like that.

The young man mindlessly sat back on his black leather-covered office chair and began to daze his mind unfocused.

This is Shin Jiao, a young man in his 20's. He was an orphan and grew up with his old grandfather. Considered a genius with regards to machines and computer coding. He made a name for himself in this field when he got into college and became well known in the entire school.

Shin Jiao is also a person who can be considered to be a jack-of-all-trades, and he can not only learn anything he wanted but also master anything he put his into it. Like for example, he knows and is fluent in more than five different languages, he is also a mix-martial arts expert, and good with a lot of other things. Because of these abilities, he actually had a dark secret. When he was in high school, he was scouted by a special organization responsible for protecting the country in the shadows.

Thus he experienced living two different lives, the one in the shadows and the one in the light when he stepped into college. At first, he found it truly interesting and like the idea of being a silent and hidden hero. Throughout his service days, he eliminated dozens of men which he considered as evil. But later on, he started to dream of the faces of the people he has killed. That was then that he found out that his conscience is already taking a toll on his mental control.

And thus he started to take lesser and lesser missions.

But it was then that one day, his world changed.

He accepted a new mission and didn't know that it would be his last.

After a successful retrieval of the mission primary goal, he stealthily escaped. He is always like a shadow and would always be successful in making his way out of any trouble, but that day was different. Due to an unknown reason, he decided to walk in another way.

That was when he was spotted by a young child, a bystander, an innocent soul. The enemies are already on his tail but still unable to find him. But if the child made a sound then the whole mission will be compromised along with his life. If he will not stain his hands with the blood of the innocent little boy, his identity could be exposed and will cost the lives of him and his comrades.

With so many variables on the line, he had no choice but to break his principle on not killing the innocent. And so with a heavy heart, he eliminated the child. This now added more to his sleepless nights and nightmares, as the faces of the people he killed began to haunt him.

And so one day he decided to quit this life in the shadows and try living a normal one. And because of his contribution to the government, they let him go from being a secret agent and was transferred to the country's research and development department. He then works as the youngest chief engineer in the country.

With the collaboration of all the greatest minds on the planet, they are able to decipher the runes. Throughout this process, Shin Jiao's contribution is actually the most important because he was able to discover the secret of the runes. With that discovery, if he wanted, he could become a very rich person. But because of his d.e.s.i.r.e to help his country and have a new life, he decided to share this discovery to others.

Though he lives a life of adventure and has many secrets, Shin Jiao is actually just a normal human being, who has his own weaknesses. And one of his greatest weakness is his heart.

When he stopped being an agent, although he is busier now, he still spends most of his time with his girlfriend. His girlfriend had stayed with him since they were in college where they first meet each other. And he always tries to spend more quality time with her.

But now it seems that it was really not enough, in his mind, this may be the cause of their break-up and he blames himself for it. The one thing that he can't accept in all of this is the fact that she actually cheated on him. It would be okay if she just wanted to break-up, as he would naturally try to understand that.

But knowing that another guy was involved and saying that the other guy can give her the future that she wanted, an unknown fury began to rise deep within his heart, and a glint of killing intent suddenly appear in his eyes.

His years of experience in bloodshed is trying to break out from within himself. But his will is strong and was able to control it. Then his grip on the chair slowly loosens up.

"Sigh… I guess… this is inevitable, I guess it was my fault after all. But… Is this the retribution that I deserve from all those years of killing? If so, then I have no choice but to accept it, right?" Shin Jiao muttered to himself as he couldn't control himself from sobbing anymore.

Fear, wounds, and fighting didn't make him cry on the battlefield, but he couldn't understand why he is crying right now. His tears went on and on never stopping until he tried to compose himself to accept everything and began to calm down.

"I... I hope that she would be happy with her new life." He muttered as he slowly stood up from the chair.

When he was out of the building he realized that it was all useless as even the cold snow would not dull the pain in his heart, and tears once again uncontrollably fell down his red jade-like cheeks as he walks down the lonely road.

Unknown to him, following him behind from a short distance is a car on the other side of the road. On the driver's seat sat a woman, her gaze is glued to his figure and her tear-filled beautiful blue eyes stare without blinking. Seeing him like this makes her feel a heart-wrenching pain. Her cheeks are already soaked with tears as her eyes couldn't stop themselves from crying.

"I'm sorry, Shin… I'm sorry! I know that this will hurt you, but I have no choice... I... I am not the woman you think I am. I'm not a good woman, I know that it is wrong for me to feel this way... but you had become the most important person in my life and it is not right for me to be with you. I cannot let you get hurt further than what I did, your life would be in so much danger if we are together with all the secrets that I have." She muttered to herself as if trying to explain things in front of the man she loves.

But then, he thought was suddenly interrupted as her phone began to ring.

"He... Hello!" She said after picking up the call, trying to control her emotion.

On the other line spoke an encrypted voice that belongs to a man with unknown age. She herself is not sure who she is talking to. As all she knows is that he is the one in command of their operation since she started to approach Shin Jiao in his college days.

But unknown to her, he is also part of the same organization, and she is just the fail-safe. And both of them are just being played at by the dark hands hidden in the shadows.

"Yes, I know. I will leave immediately, I've done what's required. I've checked everything and he has successfully finished the project. Tell the higher-ups that they can relax now, according to his calculations the orb can actually provide enough power to support a big city for at least 100 years. And he was also able to make a complete blueprint of the black orb which can be duplicated with enough scientist and engineers, but... there is a minor problem... He... he has actually already distributed those blueprints through other channels and I wasn't able to prevent that one, I'm sorry..." the young woman reported.

After a few seconds, the person on the other line suddenly asked a question which made the young woman felt a little panic.

"A threat? No... No sir, I don't think he is a threat to the security. And…. And we can still use him in other projects, but we have to convince him otherwise." she quickly replied.

After some instructions from the person on the other line, the girl dropped the call and decided to take a last look at the lonely figure of Shin Jiao. Her heart is still in turmoil as she knows that the love she had for him will not fade.

Although in her line of work it was not supposed to happen, yet she has spent a long time with him and because of that, she had unknowingly truly fallen in love with him.

It was not that hard for a woman like her to fall in love with Shin Jiao as he is for one a very handsome young man. Besides being intelligent and a very caring person, though he is a little dense at times and unfocused on others. But her days with him is filled with laughter and security. Which girl wouldn't fall for a man like that?

As she was trying to now suppress the pain in her heart, she suddenly noticed from the side mirror of her car, there is a black suspicious-looking van which is slowly speeding her way. She suddenly had a bad feeling about something. So she decided to maneuver her car to block the path of the black van.

But it was to no avail as the black van honked and just quickly evaded. Then it reeves its engine up and angrily went to the other side and just pass by her car. Seeing that her conjecture was wrong she heaves a sigh of relief.

Thinking that it was all a false alarm, she turned her gaze back to the lonely figure of Shin Jiao.

When she decided to leave, the same vehicle suddenly appears once again. But, this time it's on the opposite side of the road. Without warning, it stopped and five burly men wearing caps alighted from the vehicle. Their eyes are looking straight at Shin Jiao's direction.

"This is bad... wait a minute… I... I know these guys. Didn't I told them that he is not a threat... They didn't trust me?" she suddenly muttered with panic in her voice.

She then quickly parked her car and ran as fast as she could towards Shin Jiao.

When he got out, he suddenly noticed that something is wrong. With his experience and sharp senses he immediately spotted 5 suspicious men coming towards him. From the way they walk he can deduce that they are from the military. But he still acted as if he didn't notice anything and just casually walks to the other direction.

But when he turns around, he was suddenly rooted to the ground as he saw the very woman who caused his world to shatter. Although he felt a little happy seeing her truly beautiful face but when he remembers what she said to him, anger and resentment suddenly overcame his feelings. But when he wanted to say something to her, he noticed that her face is pale and her eyes are puffed and with tears still visible in her jade-like cheeks.

No words escaped their mouths as they stood there looking at each other. No words can express the tumultuous feelings they have right now.

Shin Jiao even forgot the danger he is in as he just stood there, trying to burn her image in his mind thinking that even for the last time at least he can see her beautiful face. He didn't care about the world around him as he looks at her. Then as if reaching a mutual understanding, both of them suddenly smiled. He now accepted the fact that it might be actually over for them, but at least he saw her smile.

But then all of a sudden everything turns black. Shin Jiao suddenly found himself in a place devoid of light. He suddenly found himself floating in the void. It's like he is in a place without gravity. His heart began to feel scared, though tough, as a normal man, he still felt fear of the unknown. But a ridiculous idea suddenly pops out of his mind, which is illogical and makes no sense for him.

"Ha, ha, ha. That's impossible… I mean I'm not dead right? I still have my clothes, bags, and the groceries I bought. I think this might be me hallucinating because of the stress I acc.u.mulated with work and... upon me seeing her…" he thought, trying to justify his situation.

Remembering what had happened just now, he can't help but be curious especially when he saw her smile. The smile she gave is not someone who's going to leave but someone who is in love. But she clearly told him that she is going away, why would she suddenly appear in front of him at that time? He would have asked that before he found himself in this place.

Meanwhile…

Shin Jiao's sudden disappearance startled the group of men who came near him. The young woman is also stupefied and was unable to move.

"Where did he go?... Hey, agent Li. Where is he?..." a white man with a blonde hair which looks like the leader of the group shouted in anger as he removed his cap.

"Why would you ask me? I'm the same as you are, I was just looking at him and... and he just disappeared..." she replied with a worried expression, feeling guilty she wanted to cry but held herself.

Everyone that saw this situation was stupefied and was unable to piece the puzzle of what had happened as they began to frantically search the area for Shin Jiao.

Unknown to them, Shin Jiao was taken by an unknown power to an unknown land to face unknown challenges.